Across the nation, families are struggling to make ends meet. Many parents are unable to provide adequate food, clothing, and medical care for their children. Children who live in poverty are more likely to have low academic achievement, as well as health, behavioral and emotional problems. This chart reflects the percent of children 17 and under who are living in poverty. A family of two adults and two children was considered to be living in poverty if their annual income was $21,756 or below in 2009.

Notes:In some cases, County-level data is not available from the same data source used by the State. In other cases, County-level data are not available for the same time frame used by the State. In these instances, data sources and time frames were selected that most closely match those of the State. Due to this difference, it must be noted that comparisons may not be completely equivalent in all cases. Genesee County data was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, because this is the only source of child poverty data updated annually for Michigan counties. Michigan's data source is The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Center.